Reviews

For this second outing though, the promoters snagged Kid Voodoo, a band who’ve been proffering their pliable craft of swamp-soul mescal-motorvated garage grind on and off around town for a fair few blue moons.

Where in the past, they’ve always seemed as though they landed perfectly formed with no hint of regimented drilling, like Sumerians transplanted to kitsch utopia tearing up their script with the urban blues, it appears they’ve spent the last few months honing that craft to ever sleeker dimensions, applying more pin-stripes, horse-power and chrome to their already stainless chassis.

Kid Voodoo (c) Stu Gibson

Unveiling new songs amongst prized artefacts like the shape-shifting, telekinetic Working On The 8th Nerve and celebratory closing mantra Weird Scene Addict, Mexico City Blues and Put The Blame On Me continue their subversion of blues lore into the very unique and well-cut vision of ringleader Stefan – Kid Voodoo himself – the latter wrapping up The Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Take Five into a Kinks-seasoned East End burrito belched out by Nick Cave in a Cadillac driven by all of The Pogues. At once.

Once more displaying their natural class and fierce finesse, they manage to be seamlessly cool without any airs, arch-ness or artifice, again winning over the (sadly rather limited) crowd, from the be-suited city centre type to football fan to would-be indie tyke.

Names like Gallon Drunk, Nick Cave and Billy Childish can be idly bandied about but Kid Voodoo read from their own book of psalms and will keep you in their crosshairs with the crossing of palms remaining distinctly unnecessary.

Plug into the electric cool of these uncrowned kings of the underdogs should you too find that you ‘Play much better when the sun goes down’.